A WARNING shot was fired across the bows of county planners Monday night (27th March) when the plans for the new swimming pool were unanimously recommended for refusal by Monmouth Town Council’s planning committee.

The town wants to see promises upheld by Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) to make the replacement pool better, as 50 per cent of the old pool was paid for by public subscription for the use of the town and MCC promised a better facility with six lanes and a viewing area.

There is expectation however, that county council planners will ignore the council’s recommendation, and will approve the build at their next meeting next Tuesday (4th April).

Plans show the new pool with five lanes, but chairman of the planning committee for the town, Councillor Stuart Wilson, explained that MCC was using the strict legal minimum requirement of two metre width lanes not the nationally recommended two and a half metre width lanes, effectively making this a four lane pool.

Cllr Wilson told the Beacon: “As the Monnow Swimming Club states, the pool as proposed is neither sufficiently deep enough at either the deep or shallow ends.

“They made a number of points including the lack of a viewing area and the need for a six lane pool as the closest pool for galas is Pontypool.

“They also stated the pool needs to be two and a half metres deep at the deep end and over one metre deep at the shallow end.”

The proposed pool falls short of national guidelines at both ends, being less than two metres deep at the deep end and one metre deep at the shallow end.

Cllr Mat Feakins was the first to condemn the plans and reject them as there had been no public consultation and they were not based on the needs and requirements of the community.

He also claimed the plans do not encompass the needs of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act of 2014.

Cllr Jane Gunter said she was aware that while agreeing with the points, to fulfil the points raised would mean having to find more money for a purpose-built pool.

Cllr Bob Hayward revealed that £2m had been ‘found’ out of the 21st Century School’s budget but the county would have to borrow the remainder.

Cllr Wilson was in no doubt the county would approve the plans as with an election looming “they would not refuse it and lose votes”.

After the meeting Cllr Wilson told the Beacon that the planning committee strongly believed building a new pool means building a ‘new pool’ and not squeezing one into a sports hall that was never designed for such a purpose:

He said:“It is clear that the county council have rushed this proposal without any proper consultation in order to try to keep a promise but the result is a fudge that comes nowhere near the replacement pool that was originally promised.”

The plans will now be on the agenda for MCC’s consideration on 4th April.